"I oppose the fact that we are still voting on whether women and doctors are best equipped to make health care decisions — or politicians here in DC," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said on the Senate floor Monday afternoon.

Ahead of the vote, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, who sponsored the bill, expected it would only get slightly more than 50 votes. Speaking on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, Graham predicted Monday morning the bill will eventually pass, even if it takes years.

"It's just a matter of time that we'll win the day, because it just makes so much common sense," he said.